


under the sky, with nothing between you (and me) and the horizon

by jillyfae



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Blood Magic (Dragon Age), Canon-Typical (Fantasy) Racism, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Romance, Sexual Content, Tentacletober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-23 13:54:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20893181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillyfae/pseuds/jillyfae
Summary: Kitten has claws, and 'Bela has the best laugh in the Eastern Seas: prompt-fills and ficlets for Merrill/Isabela.Each chapter is stand-alone, so it's marked as complete.





	1. "tentacles save the day"

Isabela looked up at the latest merc, a former qunari who was at least twice her weight and half-again her height and yet almost as light on his feet as she was, practically dancing across the shale towards her with the short-swords in his hands as easily balanced as her own two daggers were for her. 

"Shit," she whispered. She might be the bad sort of fucked right now. 

Only then she saw a shadow, separating out, thick dark shapes behind him, dark purples and sickly greens wrapping around his arms and legs, around his throat, one even twisting through his horns, and a familiar scream of power and rage as they all tightened and pulled and tore the man apart, blood and bone and ripped skin all she could see for a moment in a sick sort of cloud before all the bits spattered to the ground, thick and wet, the smell of copper burning in the back of her throat. 

She blinked the spray of blood out of her eyes, and looked up and across the beach at Merrill, who was... who was wavering on her feet, and even paler than usual, and Isabela dove towards her, barely catching her before her head slammed against the stones building up toward the cliff behind her. She was soaking wet, and there was a puddle of water beneath her, the tang of salt in the air somehow stronger here than it had been when Isabela was standing next to the spray of the waves further down the beach. 

"Kitten," Isabela whispered, trying to keep her voice steady. "Are you all right, what, what was that?"

She'd seen Merrill pull that trick with vines before, they all had, but those hadn't been vines, too thick, the wrong color... Isabela had half-thought she'd seen _suckers_ before the merc had been pulled apart.

"Bela," Merrill smiled up at her, voice whispery rough and eyes shining. She reached a hand up and wiped awkwardly at the blood smearing Isabela's cheeks. "Sorry for the mess."

Isabela shook her head. She recognized that smile and glassy-eyed stare. Merrill was just punchy from over-doing it, which while not good was at least _familiar,_ and she sighed as the tension in her chest eased. She shifted her grip and stood up with a grunt, cradling Merrill in her arms. 

Merrill's eyes closed, and she leaned her head against Isabela's shoulder.

"Don't be silly," Isabela answered, as brightly as possible as she carefully set her feet and headed toward Hawke and the rest of the group down by the water, already starting to search the bodies and clean themselves up. "You know I like a good mess, darling."

Merrill giggled softly. "'M glad it worked."

"Are you up to telling me what _it_ was?"

"Can't do vines without enough earth or wood." Isabela nodded heavily enough that Merrill would feel the shift without having to look up. She knew that. Merrill made sure they'd all known that the first time they'd been scouting along these cliffs; too much stone, she couldn't pull the vines through it all. Isabela had joked about it even, that it was good they weren't out at sea, because pulling vines out of a ship would be possible then, but probably end with them all in the drink as the ship fell apart around them. "Been working on something that'll pull from the sea instead." 

Merrill frowned, and Isabela had to hold in the urge to kiss the wrinkle between her eyebrows. "Didn't realize they'd have to manifest from me, though, or would take quite so much..."

"Those came out of _you?_" Isabela stuttered to a stop, thought about the shape, thick and strong but narrowing at the ends, that suckers, the hint of a familiar texture that had caught in the light. "You can grow _tentacles_ now?"

"I guess I can." Merrill blinked her eyes open, and the corner of her mouth lifted in a very familiar smirk at whatever it was Isabela's face was doing. "Want me to show them to you in private later?"

"You know I do." Isabela laughed, let herself kiss Merrill's forehead, and ignored Varric's snicker in the background. "But only when you're feeling better."


	2. unacceptable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this (and the next few chapters, tbqh) were in my catch-all [Dreams & Nightmares](https://archiveofourown.org/works/614137) DA2 collection, but I pulled them all out when I wrote a new one and realized I had quite a few Merrill/Isabela, and I wanted to keep them all together. 
> 
> Prompt: Merrill/Isabela, au!meme, pretending to be married

“No elves upstairs. Common room only.” The innkeep barely even looked up, his voice a bored drawl. ”We got one garret room left if you’re interested though.” He flicked a finger in Isabela’s general direction, as if it wasn’t already clear which one of them could have the room. ”No fireplace, but you’re next to the chimney so it’s plenty warm.”

“I would never be warm without my wife by my side.” Isabela kicked Merrill’s ankle, managing to be quick enough her squeak of surprise could’ve been from pain. ”Oh, I’m so sorry beloved.” She gave the elf a hug, whispering a quick ‘shh’ in her ear before turning back to the ‘keep. ”I guess we’ll just have to see if someone else is more willing to accept our coin.”

“Aren’t spare rooms nowhere on market night.”

“We shall see.” She turned and started walking slowly towards the door, waiting for greed to make him crack. 

“Cost y’extra.”

“For a private room for two?” Isabela turned around again, leaning across the bar to speak quietly. ”I expect room service, too, so no one has to see you’re giving us special treatment?”

His grunt of agreement was, perhaps, a little sour. But he almost smiled, as if he rather enjoyed the bargaining. ”Stew, bread, and ale’s all we got.”

“Sounds delightful.” Isabela gripped his hand hard when they shook, grinning at him with a wink when they both let go. ”Shall we, my dear?”

Merrill followed silently, mouth tight and footsteps silent, as if afraid to speak up and ruin the performance.

Right up until the door shut behind them.

“Does that make this our wedding night?” Merrill whispered loudly, her tongue almost caught between her teeth.

“Of course not, Kitten,” Isabela laughed, “that was just a story to give the ‘keep an excuse to pretend he’s not a rat bastard.”

“Well, not for real,” Merrill managed to roll her eyes and blush and fidget all at the same time. ”But shouldn’t we pretend? To help with the story?”

“Really?” Isabela couldn’t decide whether to laugh or purr or drag them both to the bed to see what would happen next. ”Whatever did you have in mind?”

Merrill pounced quite like the kitten Isabela had always named her, slim small hands wrapped around Isabela’s neck as she pulled her head down for a kiss full of quick flicks of her tongue and warm wet lips, until she fell back down on her heels with a shivering sort of sigh and wide questioning eyes. ”We should definitely be naked by the time dinner arrives?”

_Bed it is then. _“That is a splendid idea.”


	3. not so innocent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one was originally for leahazel, but I have long since lost the original prompt and post? sorry, I'm terribly disorganized

She knew Isabela had thought her innocent, at first. Dalish did tend to assume _relations_ meant intimacy, and discouraged casual sex amongst the unmarried young adults.

But she had been First. She was never going to marry, never going to tie one person’s life to hers as more important than the rest of the clan. She had a different path to walk.

Unfortunately, while not as innocent as Isabela thought, she was certainly ignorant of exactly how one should go about convincing a _shem_, even a warm and lovely and giving one like Isabela, that she wished quite strongly to see her naked.

She wasn’t quite sure what body shots were, but she had a feeling they might help ease that conversation along.


	4. timing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> loquaciousquark requested Merril/anyone, Time Travel AU
> 
> and then apparently I made her sad? 
> 
> Which, it being Quark, rather made me snort at the irony. But hey! Enjoy the sad, I guess?

Well, obviously, she thought they’d go _back_, to Arlathan, to learn of history and power and memory.

But when she stepped through the rebuilt _eluvian,_ she took but two steps before she staggered, hands pressed to her chest, her throat, aching and empty, _mana, gone,_ and when she reached for more it bruised, deep inside, the border to the Beyond too thick and solid to permit her touch.

Isabela whistled softly, looking out to sea, _Isabela always finds the sea. _"Have you ever heard of that, Kitten?"

Merrill blinked, and forced herself to look as well, to see impossible ships, white and shining, moving without sails or oars, one with towers like the Foundry, a hint of smoke escaping out the top.

This was not her people’s past.

This was like nothing she’d ever imagined.


	5. free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> merribela for [kyeshgall](http://faejilly.tumblr.com/post/69422569388)
> 
> because *vines*!

Isabela laughed, low and soft, at the tickle of green sliding along her ribs. She bit her lip in appreciation at the brush of a leaf along her breast, the faintest tease against her nipple as the vine it was on slowly stopped moving. It was surprisingly enticing, watching the shift of light between Merrill’s fingers, the steady focus of her eyes, the clench of her toes in the dirt as she teased her magic through the plants she’d called from beneath the ground.

And of course it felt spectacular, slow and soft, the occasional sharp edge of a thick stem as the vines twisted and spiraled around her arms and legs, cool and green against the dark of her skin.

She couldn’t help the hum low in her throat, let it go as a low soft laugh. "I might have to change your nickname kitten. At this rate, I’m going to be the one who’s purring.”

Merrill flashed a smile at her, sweet and pleased and wonderfully heated as the magic faded from the air between them. "That’s ever such good news. You purr very nicely.”

Isabela laughed again, shifting her weight against the vines around her, feeling them give easily against her skin. “You sure you’re done? Usually the point of ropes and knots is that they’re tight. I could slip right out of these.”

"Oh." Merrill’s eyes went even wider than usual, a feat that always startled, just a little, _wide and white and green and endless, _implausibly pretty. ”But I enjoy how free you are, that’s why I like you so very very much.” She shrugged, and Isabela almost laughed again, until she felt Merrill lean closer, the heat of her breath a tease against Isabela’s ears as her voice dropped to a whisper. ”I like knowing that you could leave, and don’t. That no matter what I do to you, you choose to let me.”

Isabela swallowed down a throat gone oddly tight, and closed her eyes at the feel of Merrill’s fingers trailing down her breasts, her stomach, at the cool rush of magic and the slow slide of a vine up between her legs.

Merrill was right.

She wasn’t going anywhere.


	6. kitten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [for sept](http://faejilly.tumblr.com/post/111038979908)

Kitten has _claws,_ knows just how to use them, sharp points in shoulders, almost pain scraping across nipples, or hips, pulling on hair to curve a neck into just the right place to nip, her teeth as bright and merciless as her eyes.

She likes to lick, quick little laps, teasing and infuriating and perfect. She catches the slightest shift of moment, a clench of fingers or a lifted breath, and pounces, all sharp heat and nimble fingers and a purr of breath murmured against hot skin.

As she gasps, and feels her breath shudder in her chest, Isabela wonders at her own brilliance, at such a perfect nickname.


	7. free as a gull

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [the ever lovely chignonesque](http://faejilly.tumblr.com/post/92574315792) prompted "Kirkwall or Starkhaven" for a make me choose meme... and I refused to pick. The Free Marches are terrible. Not sure why anyone stays. ;)

Isabela woke up in the middle of the night, and felt the shift of the waves beneath her, and she smiled.

She slipped out of bed, quiet and slow, and smiled again as the sound of heavy breathing never shifted a bit, contended and safe enough to finally sleep well, and true, and deep. Not even a catch of breath as she opened the door of her cabin, and latched it quietly again behind her.

The air was cool, and clear, her crew settled quietly enough at their duties that she could just enjoy herself for a moment, or two. She climbed up to her favorite perch in the rigging, and tilted her head back, and breathed.

The stars were perfect. Endless and bright and scattered, as they only were far out to sea. All she could smell was rope and brine and the slightest hint of tar and varnish, still lingering around the wood of railings and mast and deck.

She closed her eyes, and shifted the grip of fingers and toes, and let the night pass by around her.

Free as a gull, and infinitely prettier.


	8. sea-salt and stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [leahazel](http://leahazel.tumblr.com) prompted: "Merril is a dryad and Isabela is a selkie."

It was her favorite curve of beach. The river mouth was wide enough she could feel the salt thin against her skin, could swim all the way up to the trees, could tickle _her_ roots with her whiskers, until _that giggle_ broke free, and Merrill’s green eyes winked down at her, and the tree was no longer just a tree, but a door, and the dryad stepped free and they could splash and play and laugh in the moonlight, until the deep dark sky started to tinge with grey and orange and purple, and they both returned to their separate homes.

And sometimes, when the sky was dark, no moon, no stars, just the heavy shadow of clouds to keep them secret, to keep them safe, Isabela would shed her skin, and they’d touch skin to skin and lips to lips and pass the night in other ways.


	9. how many of those are there?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another [Tentacletober](https://lynne-monstr.tumblr.com/post/187578809624/its-official-tentacletober-is-here-31-days) fill!
> 
> I wrote most of this last year, but couldn’t quite get the porn to work in a way I liked, so I edited what was the middle to be a fade to black instead, and brought it back as a bit of a tease/sequel to “[tentacles save the day!](https://faejilly.tumblr.com/post/189426878076)" (aka ch1 of this collection) from last year. (With a slight divergence into “jilly makes up magic lore<strike> for canons that don’t make sense</strike>!” because that is apparently what I do for fun around here.)

“Do we need to be closer to the sea?” Isabela stretches her arms and legs as far out as they can go before she lets herself settle, braced on her elbow with the familiar green-herby smell of Merrill's pillow tucked under her arm. 

It seems a reasonable question... there had to be wood or earth for the vines, after all. Then again, the vines never came out of Merrill herself, so that was perhaps a poor comparison.

But Merrill had said she was adapting the vine spell?

_Magic is so weird._

Isabela tries not to frown.

Merrill shakes her head, all wide-eyed seriousness even as she giggles with what seems to be giddy anticipation. “There’s almost nowhere in Kirkwall too far from the sea. There are caves under Darktown that never completely dry out.”

Isabela blinks. She’d known that, actually, but she always thinks of the distance in terms of how long it took to get there, twisting tunnels and curving jagged stairs. If one could just go straight down? “How do you know that?”

“I can feel it when I’m meditating.” Merrill points below the floor. “There’s a very big cave right below the Alienage.” Her mouth twists something complicated and bitter. “I probably never would have found out the spell otherwise, it’s not safe to practice magical research out on an open beach.”

Isabela tilts her head. “Why does that make you angry?”

“If the sea ever rises too hard, or the stones shift just a _bit_ too far, the Alienage is the first part of Kirkwall that will fall.”

“And you think they did it on purpose?” Not that people aren’t that cruel, but in Isabela’s experience they're seldom that competent.

“You can’t feel it?” Merrill’s eyes somehow widen even further, her voice lifting up high and thin with surprise.

“Feel what?”

“There’s not a single accidental hex anywhere. The whole city’s a spell.” Merrill shakes her head. “Terrible place for a Circle, even though the Gallows are out past the edges. Anyone with even a touch of magic can feel it. The _shem_ don’t seem to know what it is, but it’s why I knew to bring the Mirror here.”

Isabela frowns. She's not entirely sure she knows how that connected, and any sort of spell that made Kirkwall so... well, _Kirkwall,_ probably isn’t a good thing. “Does it give you more power?”

“No.” Merrill shudders from her shoulders all the way to her heels, pressed against the floor. “It’s a terrible spell, whatever it is. But no Dalish Keeper would stay here, so they won’t interfere, and if something goes wrong, the walls that hold in Kirkwall’s spell will also hold in whatever the Mirror does.”

“Huh.”

That explains a lot about all the messes Hawke's had to clean up over the years.

It's also entirely off the topic, such as it is.

Not that Isabela managed to keep track of the topic, distracted by Merrill and her experiments. That happens to her a lot, with Merrill. Part of her charm.

"But I don't need Kirkwall for this spell," Merrill leans forward a little, balancing up on her toes as her voice drops, as if she thinks Isabela might doubt that Merrill knows what she’s doing, knows how to keep her magic contained while they play. "If something goes wrong, the spell will just dissipate."

"Will it do anything to you if you use too much magic?" Isabela frowns. She's all for a little risk for a little fun, but Merrill fainting from over-use—as has almost happened a time or two while they're out fighting—would not be sexy. 

Merrill shakes her head.

Then she tilts it with a frown, and Isabela swallows a sigh. 

"This spell can't, it just won't manifest if I don't put enough power into it, but it would be possible, with the vines, to get caught in a loop, feeding magic into something that _wants_ to keep growing, and..."

"Not the time for research mode, kitten."

Merrill blinks. She grins, clearly remembering what they _were_ trying to do instead. "Ready then?"

"I've been ready, sweetness." Isabela stretches again, twists enough to settle on her back, grins back when Merrill's eyes flicker, glancing down at her breasts, between her legs, and back again.

Merrill closes her eyes, though Isabela doesn't know if it's to focus on the spell or to _not_ focus on all of Isabela's skin on display for her. 

The tentacles grow more slowly this time, creeping around Merrill's body, growing from out of her back, from the look of it, slow and tantalizing. They're a dark purple mostly, darker than a bruise, as dark as a twilit sky at sea, and Isabela holds in a shiver as she watches the largest one curl around Merrill's thigh, thick and heavy against her pale skin. 

Isabela has to swallow before she can talk, and even so she can feel her voice rasp in her throat, lower and shakier than she'd intended. "Are you going to use _all_ of them on me?"

Merrill smiles again, sharp and hot. "Of course I am, vhenan_._"

Merrill steps closer to the bed and Isabela hums, lifting her hands above her head to encourage the curve of her spine, spreading her thighs a bit further apart. "Glad to hear it."

"Thought you'd like that." 

She feels the first careful brush of a tentacle along her leg; it's cooler than Merril's hands usually are, and the sucker catches _just so_ against her skin. She lets herself moan in anticipation, and closes her eyes, relaxing into the bed to enjoy the ride.

Or possibly _rides,_ judging by the glint she'd seen in Merrill's eyes.

She’d thought, back when they’d first met, that anyone that insatiably curious was probably insatiable in _other_ ways as well.

Isabela did so enjoy being right.   



End file.
